Unity festivals: Celebrating a chorus of cultures

When it comes to celebrating, South Florida's municipalities want to make sure they hit the right note.

And in many cases, that requires a chorus of cultures.

For Miramar, it means replacing its traditional anniversary party with Saturday's Unity Fest, a multicultural music mix that includes Japanese drummers, Latin bands as well as Haitian, Puerto Rican, hip hop and country artists.

"Music is the common denominator in a lot of things that bring people together,'' said Terry Griffin, director of Community Services in a city that in 1990 was 80 percent white, and now is about 40 percent white, 45 percent black and 36 percent Hispanic.

In Delray Beach, resident Susan Berkowitz-Schwartz organized an All People's Day celebration for the third year in a row. Held at the Pompey Park community center last month, it featured Jewish performers, Haitian musicians, step dancers and Irish dancers.

"I believe that when people come together through the arts, it touches their hearts,'' said Berkowitz-Schwartz, an art therapist.

Rather than highlighting individual cultures, more cities are sponsoring "unity events'' to appeal to younger, more diverse residents.

Pembroke Pines recently added an Indian festival as part of its Pines Day celebration. Denyse Baboolal, head of the dance troupe JayaDevi Arts Inc., said it was nice to be able to showcase their Indo-Caribbean rhythms and "some of the younger American kids came up to us afterward to ask about our style of dance.''

About four years ago, Sunrise began hosting an annual festival highlighting Caribbean, Hawaiian, Latin, East Indian, Asian and African cultures. Its purpose is "to showcase what makes each of us unique and perhaps help each of us to learn about our neighbors,'' said Christine Pfeffer, Sunrise's communications director.

On May 20, Lauderdale Lakes will host its 18th annual Unifest at Vincent Torres Park. Branded for years as a Caribbean festival, organizers said they're now showcasing a wider range of acts, including some R&B and Latin bands.

"We want people to see that we have a lot of differences but there are a lot of things we also have in common,'' said Patrice Dyer, who serves on the nonprofit board that organizes Unifest.

But not all multicultural festivals have been successful.

Hollywood launched a Global Grooves festival downtown in 2006 with belly dancers, cultural displays and an international marketplace but it didn't draw strong numbers and after three years was cut.

Riviera Beach had partnered with a social service agency for seven years to host an annual multicultural event, but when the agency shut down the event was discontinued.

Alexander Brown, a truck driver of Jamaican descent, said while individual cultural festivals are good, Miramar's newest event may help bring more people together.